Janine and Brin

Janine: We’re from Carrollton, Texas outside of Dallas. I work in health care. My husband also works in health care. It’s her first trip to New York City.

Brin: For my birthday.

…that’s a microcosm of the situation that’s going on all over America: from where I work to Bank of America, the greed, the disparity. I would really like to see that eliminated, and more balanced.

Janine: We were maybe gonna go to Ellis Island today, but instead, we decided to come on down. And we’re going to see the 9/11 memorial, we’re doing that this afternoon. So we decided to be down here, and one of the first things we wanted to do was see what was happening in Zuccotti Park. We wanted to see what was going on with Occupy Wall Street. It was that big. Our cousin who lives near to us, she participated in Occupy Dallas, and Occupy the Fed, and that whole movement.

Brin: When she would go to protest, I would babysit for her son.

Janine: I feel for the fact that there are people standing here who have lost all their belongings, apparently due to the police raid. The last thing that I saw on TV was the march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Apparently that came after they were raided and were asked to move. We’ve seen them this morning talking about how they are allowed to be here with blankets, not with sleeping bags, so that they’re still pressing on to make their presence known. I feel grateful that they’re doing this for us. I feel grateful to the people who are here. For me, the cause of the corporate greed, the bailouts, the bonuses that are getting paid to these executives, I am 100% in sync with that message.

Brin: It’s exciting. I’ve never been to something like this. It kind of gets you riled up… fun to watch.

Janine: And we see, again, going back to this health care bonuses, and salaries. For example, the CEO of the medical center where I work… it’s over a million. And that just got published by the Dallas Morning News, that all these non-profits in Dallas, what they are getting paid, and they’re getting ready to cut benefits for the employees. So that’s a microcosm of the situation that’s going on all over America: from where I work to Bank of America, the greed, the disparity. I would really like to see that eliminated, and more balanced.